In-floor heating & pianos

[PianoBook@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-03-31 14:06:24 EST, you write:

>A former customer who is buying a house in Germany is worried
>about the effect of the "Fussbodenheizung" (heating coils in
>the floor instead of radiators or air ducts) on her grand piano
>and harpsichord.  She was told by a piano dealer in Munich that
>this kind of heating is "death to wood of any kind" and that at
>the very least she would have to put an insulating mat underneath
>the instruments and humidify the air (Damppchaser, etc.).
>
>Does anyone out there have personal experience with the effect of
>this type of heating on instruments?  Is the dealer's advice
>valid or exaggerated?  (By the way, the owner is a professional
>musician with high-quality instruments which are used and
>maintained regularly.)
>
>

My guess is that the dealer's caution is exaggerated.  I don't see why it
should be worse than other kinds of heat.  The worst kind of heating for
pianos, in my opinion, is forced hot air because moisture-laden air is
constantly being replaced with drier air which, after sucking moisture from
the piano, is then replaced by more dry air, and on and on so that there is
no end to moisture loss.  I don't think that this would be so much the case
with in-floor heating coils.  I grew up with this kind of heat and don't
recall any special damage to the piano, though I wasn't exactly paying
attention to such technical details in my youth.

Larry Fine